Goa Bisons killing was to avoid damage to crops: Inquiry

The preliminary inquiry into the poaching of two Indian male bison in Goa revealed that the wild animals were killed because they were damaging crops, a senior official said today.
The carcasses of two bison were found in the jungles of Alarn in state's Pernem taluka yesterday.
Both the animals were found dead 250 metres away from each other and were killed by giving electric shock on Tuesday.
"The inquiry is going on. The forest department officials are at the spot. More clues are being collected," Conservator of Forest D N F Carvalho (wildlife division), told PTI today.
He said that the preliminary inquiry has revealed that the animals were killed to save crops from being damaged, and not for selling its meat to hoteliers, as suspected earlier.

"The wild animals from jungles of neighboring Maharashtra are increasingly traveling in Goa because the forest there are getting encroached by human beings," Carvalho said.

The forest department has not initiated any arrests, but seven cultivators around the place where carcasses were found are being questioned by a team of forest officials, headed by deputy conservator of forest.
Indian bison, the state animal of Goa, is a protected under schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act, and an accused can be sentenced up to seven years of jail for killing the animal.
Animal rescue experts like Amrit Singh have expressed concerns about killing of the Indian bison also known as 'Gaur', whose meat has a high demand in the tourism belt.

"At least two to three bison are killed every month. Poachers take benefit of the fact that they ruin the crops, and farmers want to eliminate them," Singh said.
He said that the animals travel to Goa from areas like Kalne and Dodamarg from neighboring Maharashtra.
"They usually cause nuisance for farmers. But there are enough schemes rolled out by the forest department to the farmers to protect the crop from wild animal," Singh added.
The recent trends show that bison is killed by electrocution, or locally produced low intensity explosive or shooting them with gun, he said.